The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-04-17
BRITISHERS As TOURISTS.
AN IRRESISTIBLE TENDENCY TO
FIGHT CUSTOMS.


The Outlandish Rig in Which Baronet
Attended the Opera at Havana
Mephistophles Himself Outdone by
the BloOded Guy in the Box with a
Party of Properly Dressed Opera
Coers.
HAVANA, CUBA, April 3.--No creature
has been moro widely caricatured, ridiculed
and abused than the British tourist abroad.
For many years the choicest shafts of Pari
sian wit have been aimed at him, and the
pencils of the cleverest of cartoonists of all
Notwithstanding his own-havo accentua-
ted his glazing incongruities and faults. All
TO no purpose. The British tourist is to-day
as weird, uncouth and monstrous a thing as
he was at the beginning, and will be, in all
probability, in the end. The Englishman is
at home, the most rigidly proper and correct
Of men; abroad, he's an iconoclast and a
monument OF discourtesy, Stubbornness and
rudeneSs
The tendency to struggle against custom
attacks the best of them when they travel
| met "a capital traveller on the steamer com
ing down, and, as we had previously come
together in New York, we became very well
Nc NuSsul BllSillIldli, Dul,
though he had a title and a single glass, he
was quite devoid of the usual obtrusive
characteristics that so with such Injuries.
He wore yachting clothes coming down. A
Cuban merchant who was on the steamer
asked us to go to the opera with him the
night of our arrival. We dined together at
the hotel, the Cuban went upstairs for the
ladies of his family, who had not appeared
at dinner, and my English friend excused
IN Sab, hat
we were going to the third largest theatre in
the world to hear "A good company sing
Faust" to an audience that would probably
include the best society in Havana.
About O'Clock | wandered down the big
marble stairway and found the Cuban fam
lily lolling about in the rocking chairs that
seem Indigenous to the island. 1t was very
warm. The ladies were i'll full toilet and
the men, of course, i'll evening dress We
waited nearly half an hour, and then ! saw
the clerk glance up the stairway, start back
and nudge the proprietor Both of them
raised their eyebrows and shoulders express
| lively and fell back a step / followed the
direction of their eyes and discovered what
experience should have taught me to look
for but which nevertheless gave me a shock
of disagreeable surprise. The Englishman
was descending the stairs, with look of in
effable complacency, clad in the most absurd
toggery in the world. On his head was "a
huge green cloth helmet that would have
looked big on the head of an elephant
Around it was wrapped about two yards Of
heavy blue mosquito netting which fell in
two irregular streamers down the baronet'S
noble back. / have neglected to say that he
was fat, pudgy-faced little man, with q
very perceptihle bulge in front. He wore
a long shooting blouse of yellow and brown
checks four inches square. Ii was the most
gaudy and conspicuous pattern imaginable
Over his shoulder was swung by russell
leather strap an immense pair of field
glasses in a case tattooed with the owners
name and coat of arms in silver. The
trousers appertaining to the blouse were Of
white duck and about two inches too short
This gave the spectator dashing view of
scarlet hose before his eye reached pair of
alligator walking shoes. OF course the
tourist carried an umbrella and dog skin
gloves-both are essentially useful on star
lit evening in the tropics.
| never saw more perfect breeding than
that displayed by the Cubans of our party.
The ladies knew perfectly well that they had
a colossal guy on their hands, but they were
| as cordial and sweet-tempered as so many
angels. 1t CHANGED that the sensation of the
hour and myself climbed into the same hack
| He surveyed himself happily through his
glass till he came to his legs Then he said
"Rawther short, these trousers, ehf'
Rather. Hadn't you a pair of purple
leggins or some opera boutfe boots to top off
with"
"Oh, it's no Use quizzing, you know, for
it's perfectly evident that you're in the
dumps because you haven't a similar outfit
yourself. Come, now, what do you think Of
the whole thingF
told him how well I thought he would
look in the iungles of Africa or i'll Often
| bach's operas, but his serenity was complete,
and he said:
at is, am sure, quite correct, for it is
generally regarded as one of Wiltons hap
piest combinations"
Wilton is, | believe, regarded at the mo-
ment as being shade more fashionable
| among London tailors than Poole.
He sat in, the front Of the box, the OBJ
served of all observers, leveling his big
glasses at the ladies i'll the great theatre as
| though they were miles away. "Mephisto-
pheles" on the stage scowled on him, for he
felt that his scarlet toggery was nowhere
compared to the British tourists attire. In
London the EnglishInan forcibly prevents
people from attending his opera unless they
are in evening dress. But anything will do
when he is abroad. When the Duke of
Sutherland went to Miss Bigelow's wedding
breakfast in New York he wore a shooting
coat and Devastating boots. Imagine, il
you can, an Englishman doing such thing
at hOme-or, more impressive still, fancy
the fate Of the luckless American If he car
ried into London the customs, manners and
attire that the British tourist exploits when
he travels abroad BLAKELY HALL.